GAME France hails pre-owned

The MD of GAME's French business has hailed its pre-owned offering as one of the key ingredients that has seen the retailer's store base grow by 500 per cent in the last eight years.

Philippe Wehmeyer said that the firm's second-hand product section helped it to battle the country's hypermarkets – which dominate the retail landscape in the territory.

As with other countries, many new customers are entering the games market. Nintendo in particular is very popular and strong in France. We have a great relationship with all the local supplier teams and have worked hard with them to attract new customers and spread the appeal of games to new customers,” he told MCV.

Our teams are very customer focused and offer great service and advice; we drive customer loyalty with the GAME Reward card and pre-order campaigns – and of course pre-owned helps us to offer excellent value for money.”

GAME France has grown from 37 stores in 2001 to 198 today.

This has been driven by a combination of factors including the increasing number of mass market customers, the consumer understanding of pre-owned, the reach of the GAME brand, and the competition against supermarkets and other specialists,” added Wehmeyer.

The hypermarkets are very strong in France, but each of GAME's specialist services is maximised to ensure we can compete hard and grow our presence in the market.”